Before and after: Employee commute drives FLSA case

Description

Abstract: A technician filed a lawsuit seeking compensation for time spent commuting to job sites in company vehicles and for time spent on preliminary and follow-up activities performed at home. In the first instance, he claimed that the commute amounted to a condition of his employment and he was required to use the company vehicle, which he couldn’t use for personal pursuits. The court disagreed, and also rejected his claim regarding his preliminary off-the-clock activities. But his follow-up activity — sending a transmission to his superiors concerning all the jobs he’d performed that day — was another matter.